
jas*«i--0-.F^ 



Miiii^ 



i LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. | 



7 

A _ . k 

*UNITED STATES OF AMKIUCA.! 



King Solomon. 



y^4^, (^ THE 



CHILD'S HISTORY 



OF 



KING SOLOMON. 



BY MES. M. A. HALLOCK, 

AUTHOR OF '^THAT SWEET STOET OF OLD," " CBHiD'S HISTORY 

OF PATJIi," ETC. 



•* My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother.' 

Proverbs 6 : 20. 




PUBLISHED BY THE 
AMEEICAN TEACT SOCIETY, 

150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YOEK. 



XSSBO 



BSTEBED according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869 by the x\merican 
Tbact Society, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States 
for the Southern District of New York. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
Solomon's Birth— The Brilliant Crown page 7 

CHAPTER II. 
Absalom's Ketum and Eebellion 17 

CHAPTER III. 
Adonijah's Kevolt — Solomon crowned 28 

CHAPTER iv. 

David assembles the People, and gives a Charge to Solomon --- 37 



CHAPTER V. 

Solomon at Gibeon — His Wise Choice — He judges between the Two 
Mothers 4? 



CHAPTER VI. 
The Dedication — Solomon's Palace 61 



6 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTEE VII. 
Solomon's Spirit of Enterprise — His Experiments 79 

CHAPTEE VIII. 

The Golden Shields— Tadmor of the Wilderness— Ship-building 88 

CHAPTEE IX. 

The Visit of the Queen of Sheba— God is Angry ivith Solomon 99 

CHAPTEE X. 

Solomon's Troubles — His Enemies, Hadad and Eezon — Ahijali the 
Prophet, and Jeroboam — Solomon's Death 115 



THE 



HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMOJ^. 



CHAPTEE I 



Solomon's Birth — the Brilliant Crown. 

How happy King David was that day when he 
was told that Bathsheba his wife had a little boy ; 
for God had promised a long time before that such 
a son should be born, and that it should be he who 
should build a temple where the Lord would appear 
to bless his people. 

Bathsheba had had one little boy before, but he 



8 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

died. Perhaps the young who read this may 
remember how sad David was while that child 
was so sick ; how he fasted and prayed, and lay on 
the ground all night. But Grod would not hear his 
prayer, because he had done a very wicked thing 
and must' be punished; and when the child had 
pined away for a week God took his soul, and his 
little body was cold and stiff in death. 

The servants hardly dared tell David that the 
child was. gone, for fear of increasing his sorrow; 
but when he heard it, he felt that Grod was just 
and good, and. he changed his clothes, and went 
into the house of the Lord and worshipped. After 
that, he returned home and broke his long fast with 
some food. 

David prayed for the child as long as it was 
alive, but no longer. There are some people who 
think it right to pray for the dead ; so they pay the 
priests large sums of money to make long prayers, 
hoping that their deceased friends will be the hap« 



SOLOMON'S BIETH. 9 

pier for it. David knew better, and arose from his 
lowly posture before the Lord as soon as he learned 
that his child was gone. 

Grod saw that David was very sorry for* his sin, 
and as a token of his pardon gave him another son, 
whom he called Solomon. This was not, however, 
his only name, for he had been but a few days with 
his parents, when Nathan, the prophet of the Lord, 
came to the palace to see him. This was the same 
man whom Grod had sent to tell David that the 
other child should die. And now, as David saw 
him approaching, he may have feared that he was 
about to announce again something distressing. 
But Nathan had no such tidings, for he looked 
kindly upon the babe, and said, ''His name shall 
be Jedidiah,^^ a name which means, ''Beloved of 
the Lord.'^ Grod loved Solomon even then, before 
he was old enough to know whether he was doing 
right or wrong. And does he not love all little 
children? Christ blessed them when he was upon 



10 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

earth, and they may be blessed both here and 
hereafter, if they love and obey the God who made 
them, and the Saviour who redeemed them. 

Soloinon's mother was very beautiful, so the 
Bible says ; and we hope that she was also good 
and kind, for she was to have the training of her 
child, while his father who was a great warrior was 
engaged in subduing the wicked nations around him. 

At the time of Solomon's birth, David had an 
army under Joab his nephew, at a place on the 
east side ol Jordan, where they were sent to sub- 
due the Ammonites. The war had been in prog- 
ress two or three years, and was the one in which 
Uriah, Bathsheba's first husband, perished. One 
day a messenger from Joab came to Jerusalem, 
who told David that the Ammonites were nearly 
conquered, and were then shut up in Rabbah, their 
royal city, and that Joab wished him to come with 
more troops, and take the city himself, and have 
the honor of the conquest. David immediately left 



SOLOMON'S BIRTH. 11 

Jerusalem with an army, and after several days of 
weary march, arrived at Rabbah, which he attacked 
and conquered. The king of the Ammonites was 
found in the city, dressed in his royal robes, and 
wearing upon his head a crown sparkling with pre- 
cious stones, the weight or worth of which was a 
talent of gold. David took it from the monarch's 
head, and placing it upon his own, returned with 
his army and captives in triumph to Jerusalem. 
Solomon was too young at that time to notice the 
glittering crown of his father ; but his six half- 
brothers, Amnon, Chileab, Absalom, Adonijah, 
Shephatiah, and Ithream, undoubtedly gathered 
around it with admiring wonder; each, perhaps, 
looking forward in his own mind to the hoped-for 
time when he should have it set upon his own head, 
and become a king among the nations. David never 
lost a battle, and the crown undoubtedly remained 
in the family, and probably in after years graced 
the head of Solomon himself. 



12 THE HISTOKY OF KING SOLOMON. 

David had six wives besides Bathsheba, each 
of whom had one son, and we can easily imagine 
that there were some strifes and envyings in that 
family circle. Indeed, we find that the boys grew 
up with wild and ungovernable passions, which 
caused David their father much grief. Besides his 
own sons, he had a nephew, his brother's son, in 
his family, an unprincipled young man, full of 
worldly wisdom and craftiness, whose name was 
Jonadab. 

This wily fellow flattered the king's sons, and 
secretly instilled principles into their minds calcu- 
lated to work their ruin. To Amnon, the eldest, 
and heir apparent to the throne, he was particu- 
larly attentive, and apparently kind: he took him 
warmly into his heart, called him his ''friend,'' and 
revealed to him his most secret and wicked designs. 
eTonadab saw that he was fast getting Amnon under 
his power, and intimated to him one day that as he 
was the son of a king, he should be indulged in 



SOLOMON'S BIKTH. 13 

every wish, whether good or bad, and offered his 
services in the accomplishment of his wishes. Am- 
non, like many other young men since his day, 
yielded to bad advice, and secured his own ruin. 
A family difi&culty arose, in which Amnon became 
very guilty, and for which Absalom determined to 
kill him. 

Chileab was probably dead, as no further men- 
tion is made of him ; and as another motive for 
the proposed murder, Absalom may have thought, 
through this step, to reach his father^s throne. 
These six sons were born before the end of David's 
seven years' residence at Hebron, and were all 
probably in the prime of early manhood, and each 
had a dwelling and interests of his own. 

Amnon accepted an invitation to Absalom's 
house one day, and entered joyfully into the pleas- 
ures of a feast ; but when he was nearly drunk with 
the wine which had been supplied for that very 
purpose, the fatal blow was given by Absalom's 



14 



THE HISTORY OF KING SOLOMON 



frli 




command, and Amnon lay a corpse at the feet of 
his brother. Jonadab had not been invited, for he 
was no favorite with Absalom; and when word 
reached the king that all his sons were slain, Jona- 
dab saw the truth at once, and told his uncle that 
he was confident that Amnon alone was dead, for 
he had observed in Absalom, a secret hatred tow- 
ards him for two years past. This proved true; 



SOLOMON'S BIRTH. 15 

one son was dead, and another was a mnrderer, 
fleeing from liis father's presence ; and David tore 
his garments, lay upon the ground, and wept bit- 
terly. The consequences of his own sins, and his 
over indulgence to his children were beginning to 
show themselves ; and it humbled him before God, 
and helped to qualify him, we may hope, to dis- 
charge with faithfulness his duties towards his little 
boy Solomon. Some years had gone by since he 
had been added to the family, and he had learned, 
in his childish innocence, to love them all. Absa- 
lom, his tall, handsome brother, who had probably 
often entered into his sports and humored him in 
his childish preferences, had gone, and a dreadful 
deed had been committed which deeply grieved his 
beloved father ; and although Solomon could not 
fully comprehend the nature of the crime, his young 
heart undoubtedly sympathized deeply in the sor- 
row of those around him. So little children often 
suffer in consequence of the sins of others. 



16 THE HISTOKY OF KING SOLOMON. 

David learned that Absalom had crossed the 
river Jordan, and gone on east to his grandfather, 
who was king of Geshur ; and it was his duty to 
recall and punish him, according to the laws of 
God. 

But his own strong love for Absalom revolted 
at the idea, and Maacah, Absalom's mother, used 
all her influence to have her father, the king of 
Geshur, shield his grandson from harm; and so 
Absalom went unpunished. But God saw his wick- 
edness, and had an eye upon him, for he remem- 
bers all our sins. 

We should all rejoice that Christ, our dear Sav- 
iour, has died for us, and made it possible for God 
to forgive our iniquities ; for it is only through him 
that any are pardoned and saved. 



ABSALOM'S EETUKN AND EEBELLION. 17 



CHAPTEE II. 

Absalom's Return and Rebellion. 

Three years went by after Absalom left home, 
during which time Solomon became old enough to 
begin to receive that instruction and discipline 
which was to fit him to become a wise king, at the 
head of a great and powerful nation ; and we may 
believe that his father spared no pains in his train- 
ing. David, however, could not forget his beloved 
Absalom, and longed to go and bring him home : 
but this he could not do without seeming to coun- 
tenance his guilt ; and he remained inactive till 
Joab, his nephew and general, succeeded by arti- 
fice in bringing the thing about. 

At length David told Joab to go, and after some 
days of absence he returned with Absalom. The 

King SolomoM. 2 



18 THE HISTORY OF KING SOLOMON. 

king, however, refused to allow him to come into 
his presence, and Joab, at the king's command, 
took Absalom to his former home. This was very 
galling to the guilty young man, and he determined 
to bring about a change by some means or other. 
He was far from being penitent for any thing he 
had done, and in a pert and commanding way, he 
sent word to Joab to come to him, intending to 
send him to his father to secure an interview. Joab 
paid no attention to these messages, which so much 
provoked Absalom that he ordered his servants to 
set on fire a field of barley belonging to Joab, 
expecting that this, if nothing else, would bring 
him to his house. 

Joab heard that his field of grain was entirely 
destroyed, and went over to complain about it, 
when Absalom demanded of him to see the king ; 
and Joab, having interests of his own to subserve, 
used his influence with David, and Absalom was 
finally brought into the palace, where he prostrated 



ABSALOM'S EETUKN AND KEBELLION. 19 




himself to the ground before his father. David, 
with a heart full of love and pity, raised and kissed 
this treacherous son. 

Absalom had now gained one point ; and then 
he set himself to work to draw away the hearts 
of the people from his father, which he soon in 
no small degree accomplished ; for, united to his 
pleasant address and wily tact, "there was none 



20 



THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 



in Israel to be so much praised for beauty as he ; 
from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot, 
there was no blemish in him:'^ and beauty then, 
as well as since, had no small influence with the 
world. 

Absalom now commenced 
riding through the 
city in his chariot, 
with fifty men run- 
ning before him, like 
a king already 
in power; and 
had not his father 
been blinded by par- 
would have seen the 
secret intentions of his designing son. 
Solomon was not far from eight years old, when 
word reached his father that Absalom had planned 
a revolt, and was then marching with a strong force 
towards the city; and he must have participated 




\-^\\A^ 



ABSALOM'S KETUEN AND EEBELLION. 21 







largely in the dis- 
- ^ tress that fill- 
ed the palace. 
y^ David imme- 
diately gath- 
[^ ered his wives 
and children, and 
such effects as his 
servants could carry, 
and accompanied bj^ his 
old body-guard of six 
hundred men, and by 



22 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON/ 

liis most devoted friends, left the city. Passing 
down from the east gate into the valley of the Ki- 
dron, the men and women, with Bathsheba and 
Solomon, went over the brook, and followed the 
king as he ascended, barefoot, the Mount of Olives. 
David felt that he was under the rebuke of the 
Lord, and wept as he went; the people also cov- 
ered their heads and followed weeping, and all the 
country through which they passed wept with a 
loud voice. 

Passing onward, they had a long and weary 
march through a rugged and desolate region, to the 
bank of the river Jordan : the men were in great 
straits, the women, distressed and in tears, while 
the children were no doubt hungry and tired. It 
was almost night when they stopped to refresh 
themselves, and soon after, a messenger arrived, 
who advised the king and his men to move across 
the Jordan as quickly as possible, as Absalom might 
come upon them before morning, and find them de- 



ABSALOM'S RETUEN AISD REBELLION. 23 

fenceless. They immediately commenced the work, 
and during the night, by some means, although they 
had no bridge, they were all transported across the 
water, and were comparatively safe. 

But this was of short duration ; for Absalom and 
his forces ere long appeared in sight, and David 
saw that a battle with his beloved son was inevita- 
ble. His forces had increased to many thousands, 
and, as with a heavy heart he drew them out, and 
placed them under his three captains, he com- 
manded each to deal gently with the young man 
Absalom, for his sake ; then retiring to his quar- 
ters, he undoubtedly prostrated himself before the 
Lord, to pray for his unnatural and cruel son. 
Meanwhile the battle was in progress, and Absa- 
lom, while riding furiously in his zeal to defeat his 
father, was caught by his long hair in a low branch 
of an oak, and there hung, the mule passing on 
from under him. Solomon never saw this brother 
again, and perhaps his last view of him was when 



24 



THE HISTORY OF KING SOLOMON 




he rode through the streets of Jerusalem in such 
pomp, exciting the envy of some and the admira- 
tion of others ; but it was all past now, and Absa- 
lom lay a mangled corpse under a pile of stones in 
the land of G-ilead. 



ABSALOM'S EETUKN AND EEBELLIQN. 25 

Solomon gladly returned to Jerusalem with his 
parents, and entered once more his beloved home. 
But the death of Absalom had cast a dark shadow 
over the once happy palace, and a deep sorrow upon 
the hearts of the whole family. The revolt had also 
left the country in a very disturbed state, and jeal- 
ousies and petty rebellions, springing up here and 
there, caused the king much trouble and perplexity. 

All this, however, did not teach him wholly to 
obey the Lord ; and when, some time after, he saw 
how greatly the country had extended and pros- 
pered under his reign, he began to cherish a wish 
to know just how many subjects he had capable of 
bearing arms. God had expressly forbidden his 
numbering the people, for the Lord could conquer 
by few as well as by many, and He was their Cap- 
tain. Yet Joab was called, and ordered to go from 
one end of the land to the other, and bring in the 
number of the people. To this he made strong 
objections ; but the king insisted, and Joab and his 



26 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

officers went forth. Nearly ten months were occu- 
pied in the accomplishment of this work, when 
he returned and reported one million and three 
hundred thousand valiant men who drew the bow. 

Solomon was now old enough to see and realize 
in some degree, the great responsibilities that would 
soon rest upon him as the head of this vast army, 
for he probably knew that he was to succeed his 
father in the kingdom ; but if he began to indulge 
in any flattering anticipations of his future great- 
ness, they were speedily checked by the great 
perplexity and distress into which his father was 
thrown by a visit from the old prophet Grad. This 
prophet had been a firm friend of David's through 
all his former trials, while Saul was hunting him 
from one end of the land to the other, and had even 
been over into Moab with him during his exile : now 
he appears again, with a message from the Lord. 

He assured the king that one of three great 
evils must come upon the land for his sin in num- 



ABSALOM'S -EETURN AND REBELLION. 27 

bering the people. "Shall seven years of famine 
come unto thee into thy land/^ said Grad ; " or wilt 
thou flee three months before thy enemies, while 
they pursue thee; or that there be three days' 
pestilence? Now, advise and see what answer I 
shall return to Him that sent me.'' 

David had been praying over his sin during the 
night, and had humbly repented of it ; and now he 
was in a great strait, for it was hard to choose be- 
tween these three great evils. At length, with an 
aching heart, he threw himself upon the mercies of 
the Lord , and left the disposal of the matter wholly 
with him. Then Grod sent forth the angel of death, 
and in three days seventy thousand of those over 
whom David had gloried, lay in their graves. In this 
was a lesson of wisdom for Solomon, which we trust 
he was not slow in learning. It was not far from 
this time probably, that he married Naamah, an 
Ammonitess, who was probably a proselyte to the 
true religion. 



28 THE HISTOKY OF KING SOLOMON, 



CHAPTEE III 



y^DONijAH's Revolt — jSolomon Crown 



ED. 



David, under the burden of his arduous duties 
and severe trials, was becoming prematurely old. 
Adonijah noticed this, and although he knew that 
Solomon had been appointed by Grod himself to sit 
upon the throne, he secretly determined to put in 
his claim as the eldest living son, and secure, if 
possible, the crown; so he kept a close lookout 
for a favorable opportunity in which to assert his 
claim. He was over thirty-three years of age at 
this time ; and being very artful and sagacious, he 
succeeded in drawing Joab, his father^s old and 
faithful general, into his plans, and also Abiathar one 
of the priests, and several other influential men; 
for he, like Absalom, had prepared himself royal 
chariots and many attendants. 



ADONIJAH'S KEYOLT. 29 

Going down to En-rogel, a place a little out of 
Jerusalem, he made a magnificent feast, to which 
he invited all his brothers except Solomon, and all 
the principal men of Judah ; and there they pro- 
claimed Adonijah king, and had a general time of 
rejoicing. Nathan, the old prophet who thought 
much more of David and Solomon than he did of 
Adonijah the usurper, heard what was being done 
at En-rogel, and hastened in to tell Bathsheba. 
She was surprised and alarmed at his words; and 
he advised her, if she wished to save her own and 
Solomon's life, to go immediately to David, tell 
him what had been done, and remind him of his 
promise to her, which was that Solomon should be 
the ki ng 

David had been sick, but when she came in 
and bowed before him, he received her kindly and 
asked her errand. She reminded him of his prom- 
ise ; and then informed him that Adonijah had 
already been proclaimed king, and that the eyes 



30 THE HISTORY OF KING SOLOMON. 

of all the people were turned to him to know 
whom he would choose to reign after him. 

At that moment Nathan entered, and after bow- 
ing himself to the ground before the king, repeated 
in substance what Bathsheba had said, and added, 
that while the captains of the host, the sons of the 
king, and many others had been called to attend 
Adonijah's feast, himself, Zadok, Benaiah, and Sol- 
omon had not been invited ; and inquired if the 
thing had been known and ordered by the king. 

David decided at once what to do. He called for 
Bathsheba, who had retired when Nathan entered ; 
and when she came and stood before him, he looked 
earnestly upon her, and said, "As the Lord liveth, 
that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, even 
as I sware unto thee by the Lord God of Israel, 
saying. Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after 
me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead, 
even so will I assuredly do this day.'' 

Bathsheba was greatly pleased, and bowed her- 



ADONIJAH'S EEYOLT. 31 

self before the king and said : " Let my lord, King 
David, live for ever/' 

It is a tappy thing for young men in any of the 
walks of life, to have wise and active mothers to 
espouse their cause, and by their counsels, efforts, 
and prayers, to help them reach and honorably fill 
the stations allotted them in life ; but it is sad to 
know that there are many in this day who disre- 
gard such influences, and think it manly to break 
away from maternal counsels. 

David having finished his message to Bathshe- 
ba, immediately sent for Zadok the priest, Nathan 
the prophet, and Benaiah the captain of his guard. 
This Benaiah was a very valiant man, who once 
killed a lion in a pit in time of snow, and after- 
wards a giant who had a sword and a spear, while 
he had nothing but a staff. These three trusty 
friends of David soon entered and stood before the 
king. David raising himself in bed, said, "Take 
with you my body-guard, and bring the mule which 



32 



THE HISTORY OF KING SOLOMON 




I ride upon, and take Solomon down to the brook 
Grihon, and there anoint him, and blow a trumpet, 
and say, God save King Solomon ! Then bring him 
back into the city and place him upon my throne, 
for he shall be king in my stead.'' 

Solomon was about eighteen years of age, and 
was a modest, unassuming young man, who felt 
himself to be but a child ; yet relying upon God 



ADONIJAH'S EEYOLT. 33 

for help, he gladly submitted to his father's direc- 
tions, and prepared for his inauguration. Zadok 
took from the tabernacle a horn of oil which was 
very fragrant and costly, while the people car- 
ried their instruments of music ; and when they 
reached Gihon they anointed Solomon and blew 
the trumpets, and they all cried with a mighty 
voice, ''Grod save King Solomon,'' and all the musi- 
cians played upon their instruments, and the peo- 
ple rejoiced with so great a joy that the earth rung 
again. 

Adonijah and his company were just completing 
their feast as the noise of the people reached their 
ears ; and Joab, starting up in alarm, inquired for 
the cause of the great uproar in the city. No won- 
der that his guilty conscience was terrified ; for 
being one of the conspirators, he had forfeited his 
office and head. At that moment, a youn'g man, 
Jonathan son of the priest, was seen hurriedly ap- 
proaching ; and Adonijah, throwing open the door, 

King Solomon. 3 



34 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

said, "Come in, for thou att a valiant man, and 
bringest good tidings/' 

Jonathan replied: "David has made Solomon 
king; he has been anointed, and is now seated 
upon the throne, and all the people are rejoicing. 
David has also received the congratulations of the 
people, and blessed the Lord for giving him a son 
to sit on the throne while he is still alive.'' 

Abiathar the priest heard the words of his son 
Jonathan, who had probably come on purpose to 
save his father's life, and was greatly alarmed, as 
were also all of the company ; and every man fled 
from Adonijah, leaving him. alone, to sustain his 
usurped authority as best he could. Thus friends 
often gather around those in prosperity, with the 
hope of receiving some favor ; but in times of ad- 
versity they are nowhere to be found, and like 
Adonijah's friends, are ashamed to acknowledge 
even their acquaintance. 

Terribly alarmed, Adonijah gave up all for lost, 



ADONIJAH'S EEYOLT 



35 




fled into the city, entered the tabernacle, and caught 
hold of the horns of the altar ; while Joab, who had 
been so bold and courageous before, now cowered 
down under his guilt, and lay in some secret place, 
fearing the wrath of his cousin Solomon. The city 
was in confusion, and many were running here and 
there in search of the conspirators, when Solomon 
heard that Adonijah was clinging to the horns of 
the altar, and begging for life. He immediately 



36 THE HISTOKY OF KING SOLOMON. 

sent liim word that if lie would show himself a 
worthy man he would protect him, but if not he 
should die. Guilty, and trembling with fear, he 
was brought before King Solomon, who ordered him 
to go home to his own house on parole. He after- 
wards did wrong again, and was put to death. 

We can see by Adonijah's course and fate, that 
there is nothing gained by appropriating to our- 
selves what of right belongs to others ; and our best 
rule is, ''always to do by others as we would have 
them do by us.'^ 



DAVID ASSEMBLES THE PEOPLE. 37 



CHAPTEE IV. 

David assembles the People — Gives a Charge 

TO jSoLOMON. 

David was now seventy years old. He liad 
long been out of health, and feeling that his end 
was nigh, and desiring to set his affairs in order 
and prepare to depart, he sent for Solomon, who 
came and stood before him. David told him that 
he knew he was young to assume the responsible 
duties of the kingdom, but that he must be strong, 
and show himself a man in capacity and judg- 
ment. 

'' And, my son,'' he added, '' it was in my mind 
to build a house for the Lord, but I was forbidden 
to do it, because I was a man of war ; but God said 
to me, ' Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who 



38 THE HISTOEY OE KING SOLOMON. 

shall be a man of rest, and I will give Mm rest 
from all his enemies round about, for his name shall 
be Solomon — peaceable. He shall build a house 
for my name, and he shall be my son, and I will 
be his father.' Now, my son, go on and build the 
house of the Lord thy God. And if you obey the 
Lord in all things, and walk humbly before him, he 
will give you wisdom, and you shall prosper in all 
that you do. In the midst of my wars, cares, and 
troubles, I have never lost sight of the temple, but 
have been laying aside what I could for that pur- 
pose. You will find ready one hundred thousand 
talents of gold, a thousand thousand talents of sil- 
ver, and brass and iron without weight, for it is in 
abundance. As for timber and stone, I have pre- 
pared a great deal, but you can add to it as you 
need. Besides, you have masons and carpenters, 
and men who can do all manner of curious work, 
and the temple can be commenced without delay.'' 
David had been a king nearly forty years, and 



DAYID ASSEMBLES THE PEOPLE. 39 

knew that his influence with the heads of the nation 
would be more than Solomon's could possibly be 
at that time ; and to further the work which he had 
just given his son, he thought best to call together 
the principal men of the kingdom, lay the subject 
before them, and secure to Solomon their coopera- 
tion. 

Messengers were accordingly despatched in 
every direction, and at the set time, there arrived 
at Jerusalem all the princes of Israel, the princes 
of the tribes, and the captains of the companies that 
ministered to the king by course, and the captains 
over the thousands, and the captains over the hun- 
dreds, and the stewards over the possessions of the 
king and his sons, with the officers and with the 
mighty men, and with all the valiant men. Here 
were the wisdom, valor, and power of the whole 
nation, standing before their aged and beloved king, 
to listen to a few parting words from him, in regard 
to the great interests of his country and his Grod. 



40^ THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

With renewed strength given for this solemn 
occasion, David wrapped his garments about him, 
and stood upon his feet. Every eye of that vast 
assembly was fixed upon him in tender sympathy, 
as he said: ''Hear me, my brethren, and my peo- 
ple.'^ He then proceeded to tell them that at one 
time he had purposed to build a house to the Lord, 
and had made ready many materials, but God had 
ordered that it should be left for Solomon to accom- 
plish. Then, after rehearsing many of God's deal- 
ings with them, he raised his hand and charged 
them in the sight of all Israel, the congregation of 
the Lord, and in the audience of God, to seek for 

and keep all the commandments of the Lord ; that 

« 

they might retain the good country in which they 
lived, and leave it for their children after them for 
ever. 

David then turning to his son, said: ''And thou, 
Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father, 
and serve him with a perfect heart and with a will- 



DAVID ASSEMBLES THE PEOPLE. 41 

ing mind, for the Lord searcheth all hearts and un- 
derstand eth all the imaginations of the thoughts : if 
thou seek him he will be found of thee, but if thou 
forsake him he will cast thee off for ever. Take 
heed now, for the Lord hath chosen thee to build a 
house for the sanctuary ; be strong, and do it.'' 

David then furnished Solomon with plans of the 
temple, both internal and external, which had been 
given him, he said, by the Spirit of Grod. Nothing 
had been left to the wisdom or discretion of Solo- 
mon, for even the weight of the gold for each in- 
strument and vessel was given by his father. After 
this was completed, David, turning again to the peo- 
ple, told them that, besides the regular proportions 
of the spoils of his enemies which he invariably 
consecrated to the Lord, he had from his own pri- 
vate means given three thousand talents of pure 
gold — which, according to the estimate of some, 
amounts to over seventy-two millions of dollars. 
Besides this, he had given seven thousand talents 



42 THE HISTOEY OE KING SOLOMON. 

of silver, or over ten and a half millions of dollars. 
And when he inquired who was willing to assist by 
contributing of his wealth for this service, every 
heart responded, and about one hundred and eighty 
millions more in gold and silver was offered, besides 
brass, precious stones, and iron. It was given will- 
ingly, and all rejoiced together. David remem- 
bered whence came all good gifts, and led the 
people in prayer and praise to the Lord Grod of 
Israel. He then called upon the congregation to 
bless the Lord, and they all bowed their heads 
and worshipped the Lord ; after which they off'ered 
burnt-offerings, and dispersed for the night. 

The next day this assembly came together again, 
and cattle, sheep, and lambs were driven in for 
offerings, till Jerusalem was full of their lowings 
and bleatings. Three thousand sinless creatures 
were laid upon the altar, and their blood poured 
out for the guilt of the nation, thus typifying that 
greater sacrifice which was yet to come. On the 



DAVID ASSEMBLES THE PEOPLE. 43 

peace-offerings the people were allowed to feast, 
and they all ate and drank before the Lord, with 
great gladness. 

Solomon had been hastily, and by a very few 
people, anointed king bnt a short time before ; now 
it was proposed that the ceremony should be re- 
peated before the princes and mighty men of the 
nation. So Solomon was again anointed, and amid 
the loud acclamations and rejoicings of the people, 
he was taken back to the palace and placed upon 
the throne of his fathe-r. Never before had Pales- 
tine witnessed such triumphal proceedings, for nei- 
ther Saul nor David had been as highly exalted in 
the eyes of the nation as this young man Solomon. 
At length the congregation broke up and returned 
to their homes, rejoicing in the royal majesty of 
their new sovereign. 

David came from obscurity and poverty, but 
his course was uniformly onward and upward, and 
the hope which he anchored in Grod stood sure and 



44 THE HISTOKY OF KING SOLOMON. 

steadfast to the end. Solomon, on the contrary, 
flashes upon our vision like a burning meteor, and 
promises a career which shall eclipse every thing 
which had gone before. 

His first duty seems to have been to bury his 
father, who died soon after he relinquished the 
throne. He left great riches, and a conquered ter- 
ritory extending from the river Euphrates on the 
east, to the river of Egypt on the southwest ; but 
his best bequest was a united kingdom, and a lov- 
ing and loyal people. 

In the first year of Solomon's reign, his heart 
was gladdened by the birth of a son, an heir to the 
crown, whom he named Eehoboam. The event 
awakened new feelings, and stirred for the first 
time, the deep fountains of parental love in the 
heart of the young king ; but the child was laid in 
the arms of Naamah its mother, while Solomon 
attended to the weighty matters of the kingdom. 

The fame of the Israelites had spread into dis- 



DA^^iD ASSEMBLES THE PEOPLE. 45 

tant lands, and Pharaoh, king of Egypt, made an 
alliance with Solomon, that their mntual interests 
might the better be promoted ; and as another proof 
of his regard, he gave him his daughter for a wife, 
and she was brought in pomp and splendor from 
her father's heathen court, to Jerusalem. There 
she was to live till Solomon should finish the tem- 
ple, when he designed to build a house expressly 
for her, for he said: ''My wife shall not dwell in 
the house of David, king of Israel, because the 
places are holy whereunto the ark of the Lord hath 
come.'' She was of heathen extraction, and even 
if proselyted, she was probably surrounded by many 
heathen attendants, whose practices would profane 
a sacred place. 

Solomon was as yet disposed to obey the injunc- 
tions of his father, and observe the worship which 
he had been taught from a child to respect ; and he 
is said to have loved the Lord, yet he allowed idol- 
atrous worship on many a hill in his kingdom. 



46 THE HISTOKY OF KING SOLOMON. 

Added to this, he had one heathen wife, and 
probably more, who had views of their own in re- 
gard to worship ; and Solomon had, in thns marry- 
ing, both placed himself in the way of temptation, 
and openly broken one of the commands of Grod. 
Some have believed that these wives were prose- 
lyted to the Jewish faith, but for this opinion there 
is no evidence ; and it would not have been strange 
if the little boy Rehoboam had grown up an idola- 
ter, and become a wicked king. 



SOLOMON AT GIBEON, 47 



CHAPTER V. 

JSOLOMON AT GlBEON HlS WiSE ChOICE Me 

JUDGES BETWEEN THE TwO IVLoTHERS. 

It will be remembered that the tabernacle made 
in the time of Moses, and the brazen altar attached 
to it, were not in Jerusalem, but at Gribeon, a city 
about six miles north. There the priests of the 
Lord performed their duties according to the law, 
and there Solomon proposed to offer a solemn sac- 
rifice in honor of Grod. Following the example of 
his father, he called for all the great men of the 
nation ; and when they arrived, having procured a 
thousand animals for burnt-offerings, they all pro- 
ceeded to Gribeon. 

This place had belonged to the Hivites, but was 
captured by Joshua, which caused much consterna- 



48 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

tion at the time throughout that region ; and its 
inhabitants are the same who took mouldy bread, 
and clothed themselves in old garments and shoes, 
and came to Joshua, and through deceptive words 
induced him to enter into a league with them, and 
to make the promise to leave them in the quiet 
possession of their city for ever. But in after 
years, king Saul, in his zeal to exterminate the 
ancient inhabitants, broke the compact, and at- 
tempted to expel them from the country, for which 
sin God sent a famine upon the land in the time 
of David. See 2 Samuel 21. But notwithstanding 
these troubles, the tabernacle was located there, 
and Solomon and all the congregation with him 
went up to the altar, and offered upon it a thou- 
sand burnt-offerings. How long it took to do this 
we are not told; but at night, weary with the 
fatigue and excitement of the day, Solomon retired 
to rest. His bodily senses were soon locked in 
sleep ; but while he slept his mind was supernatu- 



SOLOMON AT GIBEON, 



49 




rally aroused — Grod appeared to him in a vision, 
and said : '' Ask what I shall give thee.'^ 

Solomon manifested no fear on being thus ad- 
dressed by the great Jehovah ; but following the 
reflections which probably passed daily through his 
mind, he replied that Grod had showed great kind- 
ness to David his father and prospered him ac- 
cording as he had walked in his integrity, and had 



Kin^ Solomon. 



50 THE HISTOKY OF KING SOLOMON. 

now bestowed upon himself the kingdom, instead 
of giving it to Adonijah, his elder brother. " And 
now, Lord,'' he said, ''I am but a little child ; I 
know not how to go out or come in, and I am in 
the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen — a 
great people that cannot be numbered, nor counted 
for multitude. Grive, therefore, thy servant an un- 
derstanding heart to judge thy people, that I may 
discern between good and bad ; for who is able to 
judge this thy so great a people ?'' 

The wisdom of Solomon is discernible in this 
answer, and is worthy of the imitation of young men 
in every age of the world. Grod was pleased with 
his choice, and granted his request, assuring him 
that his wisdom should excel the wisdom of all the 
kings who had gone before or should come after 
him. And moreover, he should have that for which 
he had not avsked, both riches and honor. Then 
came a conditional promise of long life, in case he 
was as devoted and obedient as his father. 



SOLOMON AT GIBEON. 51 

In the morning Solomon awoke and found that 
these revelations had been made in a dream ; but 
they were real to him, and he went forth to his 
duties comforted and strengthened. Solomon and 
the people returned to Jerusalem, and stood before 
the ark of the covenant of the Lord, which was kept 
under a tent, and there they offered burnt-offer- 
ings and peace-offerings. It was proper that in 
presenting their sin-offerings at Gibeon, the people 
should fast and humble themselves before the Lord ; 
but at Jerusalem they came with peace-offerings 
before a reconciled God, and rejoiced in his mercy, 
and they all ate of the peace-offerings, which fur- 
nished a feast to the whole people. The days of 
worship were ended, a great blessing had been 
secured to Solomon, and all the princes and great 
men of the nation took their leave of the king and 
returned to their homes. 

After this, Solomon was seated upon his throne 
one day, to hear the causes of those who should 



52 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

come with complaints, when two women were ad- 
mitted into his presence, each carrying a little babe 
in her arms. As they came near, Solomon saw 
that one of the children was dead. The woman 
carrying it bowed before him, and in great excite- 
ment, said: "Oh, my lord, this dead child belongs 
to that woman, and the living child is mine ; she 
stole it from my bed, and put this one in its place 
while I was asleep.'' "ISro,'' interrupted the other; 
"the living child is mine, and the dead one yours.'' 
The first speaker was equally vehement in affirm- 
ing what she had first said, while her opponent, 
clinging to the living child, persisted in saying that 
it was her own. 

Solomon had probably never seen these women 
before, and how should he be expected to give a 
just decision in the case ? One thing he did know, 
which was, that mothers loved their children dear- 
ly, and would suffer any thing themselves rather 
than have them harmed; and to test this feeling 



SOLOMON AT GIBEON. 53 

in the women before him, he proposed to cut the 
living babe in two, and give each a part. A sword 
was ordered, and when it was brought, Solomon 
said: " Cut the child in two, and divide it between 
them.'^ 

Horror-stricken at these words, the mother 
cried, ''Oh, my lord, do not kill it; but let her 
keep it, let her keep it.^' 

The other, with cold indifference, handing the 
child towards the executioner, answered: " Let it 
be neither mine nor thine ; divide it.'' 

Solomon had very adroitly arrived at the truth, 
and giving the child to its mother, sent them away. 

The people throughout the country were greatly 
astonished at the wisdom of their j^oung king, and 
they feared him because they saw that the wisdom 
of God was with him. 

Solomon now began to execute his plans in re- 
gard to the temple; and as Hiram, king of Tyre 
had sent messengers to Jerusalem, to condole with 



54 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

him on account of the death of his father, he thought 
best to send a delegation back with them, to ask of 
Hiram the services of some of his master- workmen. 

Hiram, on the reception of this word, was great- 
ly pleased to learn that Solomon was disposed to 
carry out the wishes of his father, and returned 
answer that his workmen were at his disposal, and 
that he would order them to prepare cedar and fir- 
trees up in the mountain, get them down to the 
sea; and there make them into rafts or floats, to be 
sent wherever he should direct. This was very 
kind in Hiram, but no more so than Solomon had 
reason to expect, for he had been a firm friend of 
David's for years ; and many suppose that he was 
a convert to the Jewish faith. 

Solomon immediately made a levy upon the 
people, and raised thirty thousand men, ten thou- 
sand of whom were to be sent every month to Leb- 
anon, to assist in the labor there. He had spoken 
freely to Hiram in praise of his own God, lest per- 



SOLOMON AT GIBEON. 55 

haps this king over an idolatrous nation, should 
receive the impression that a house, however large 
and magnificent, could contain the God he wor- 
shipped. "The temple,^' he said, "was designed 
merely as a place in which to burn sacrifices to the 
Grod whom the heaven of heavens could not con- 
tain, for he was above all gods.^^ 

There were men in the kingdom who worked 
skilfully in gold and silver ; but Solomon wanted a 
head workman to direct all the rest, and he re- 
quested Hiram to send a man who was qualified to 
fill such a post, and could work exquisitely in gold, 
silver, brass, iron, purple, crimson, and blue. For 
such and other labor, Solomon was to pay yearly, 
twenty thousand measures of wheat, the same of 
barley, and twenty thousand baths of oil, and twen- 
ty thousand of wine, amounting to nearly five thou- 
sand barrels of each. As fast as the timber was 
prepared, it was floated down to Joppa, the nearest 
seaport, whence it was taken to Jerusalem. 



56 



THE HISTORY OF KING SOLOMON, 




While these prep- 
arations were going 
forward in Mount Leb- 
anon, Solomon ordered great 
%! - _^^--- - and costly hewed stones to be 
brought, to lay the foundation of the house. Jo- 
sephus says: "they were cut and fitted together 
in the mountain, and then brought to the city, 
where they were laid very deep in the earth, that 
they might be able to bear the superstructure that 
was to be raised over them.'^ 



SOLOMON AT GIBEON. 57 

Witliin a few j^ears, men of science have suc- 
ceeded in entering the Turkish mosque of Omar, 
which now stands upon the spot once occupied by 
the temple ; and in exploring its deep foundations, 
find stones of immense size, which are believed to 
be the same placed there so long ago by Solomon. 
But whether the dark, subterraneous passages which 
have recently been discovered, leading from the 
temple to the outer walls of the city, were made at 
that time, we do not know. Several such under- 
ground channels cut in solid rock, have recently 
been discovered, with the chips of the quarrying 
still lying in the sides of the passage. 

Dr. Bement, who has travelled extensively in 
Egypt and Palestine, states, "that a German has 
recently explored one of these passages, and found 
that it had many branches, leading to several spa- 
cious apartments in which were many relics ; among 
others were seen the bones of a camel. There can 
be little doubt that these passages were known to 



58 



THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON 




Solomon, if indeed lie did not himself order their 
construction. '^ 

Three years were occupied in making prepara- 
tions for the temple, but in the fourth of Solomon's 
reign, the foundations were laid. 

Apart from its courts, it was but a small struc- 
ture, being about one hundred and five feet long, 
thirty AYide. and forty-five high. It faced the east, 



SOLOMON AT GIBEON. 69 

and on that end had a parch or ornamental steeple 
one hundred and eighty feet high, overlaid within 
with pure gold. The entire body of the house up 
to the roof was made of white stone, which was 
fitted at the quarry, so that there was neither ham- 
mer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the 
house while it was in building. 

Having finished the main part, he proceeded to 
overlay the ceilings and the doors, the posts and 
the walls with pure gold, garnishing with precious 
stones for beauty. 

One room, called the ''Holy of Holies,'' was 
thirty feet square, and overlaid with pure gold. 
Here the high-priest was admitted to Grod's presence 
once a year, on the great day of atonement; but 
no other person was ever allowed to enter within 
its hallowed walls. There was to be the ark, and 
there, with outstretched wings, reaching from ceil- 
ing to ceiling, stood two cherubim looldng down 
upon the mercy-seat. These, and all other things 



60 THE HISTORY OF KING SOLOMON. 

in tliat room were covered witli pure gold, which 
must have been worth several millions of dollars. 
A splendid veil hung at the entrance, made of blue 
and crimson, and fine linen, with figures of cheru- 
bim inwrought. At the death of Christ, the veil 
before the Most Holy place was rent in two, thus 
showing that the mercy-seat henceforth should be 
accessible to all. 

The temple, when finished, was the most splen- 
did and magnificent structure the world ever saw, 
and was typical of that house not made with hands, 
where the righteous will reign for ever with the 
Lord. 



THE DEDICATION. 



61 



CHAPTEE VI 



The Dedication — Soi^omon's Palace. 




Nearly a year passed by alter 
the completion of the temple, before 
the people were called together to its dedication. 
Then the call was given, and all the great men of 



62 



THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 



the nation, besides an innumerable company of oth- 
ers, assembled at Jerusalem. It was on the eighth 
day of the seventh month, corresponding nearly to 
our October, that the ceremonies began. The king, 
attired in his royal robes, and surrounded by all 




y^^ his principal officers and the 
priests, proceeded with the 
multitude to that part of the city where the ark of 
the Lord had been kept, and there they offered up 
sacrifices, sheep and oxen, in great numbers. The 
priests and Levites then took up the ark, and amid 



THE DEDICATION. 63 

music and rejoicings carried it to the temple, and 
placed it in the Holy of Holies, under the spread 
wings of the golden cherubim. 

Several thousand singers, dressed in white linen 
robes, were gathered near the altar, with cymbals, 
harps, and psalteries in their hands, while a hun- 
dred and twenty priests with trumpets stood near ; 
and at a given signal every instrument and voice 
sounded in harmonious concert, praising the Lord 
for his goodness and his mercy, which endureth for 
ever. 

Suddenly the whole house was filled with a 
cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minis- 
ter before the altar ; and as it gathered over the 
congregation, Solomon worshipped and praised the 
Lord, and blessed the people in His name. Then 
kneeling before the altar, he addressed the Lord 
in a long, humble, and earnest praj^er. As he 
finished, fire from heaven came down upon the ani- 
mals that were bleeding upon the altar, and con- 



04 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

sumed them ; and the glory of the Lord filled the 
house, and all the people bowed their faces to the 
pavement, and worshipped and praised the Lord. 

During this solemn dedication and festival which 
continued two weeks, Solomon offered twenty-two 
thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thou- 
sand sheep. Upon these the whole people feasted, 
while they rejoiced greatly in the piety, wisdom, 
and liberality of their young king. At the termi- 
nation of the solemnities, Solomon blessed all the 
congregation with a loud voice, and sent them away 
in peace. 

He was deeply interested in what had been 
transpiring ; and as he lay asleep in the night, Grod 
appeared to him as he had before done at Gribeon, 
and assured him that He had heard his prayer, and 
had hallowed the house which he had built for his 
worship. He also promised Solomon, in case he 
was faithful to obey him in all things, to continue 
the kingdom to him and his children for ever ; but 



THE DEDICATION. 65 

if he or they should turn aside to worship other 
gods, they should be driven from the land, and 
the beautiful temple so spoiled, that every one who 
saw it should be astonished, and hiss. Solomon 
and his son did not fully obey the Lord, and only 
thirty-three years after this, the temple was plun- 
dered by Shishak, king of Egypt. It subsequently 
suffered various profanations, and about four hun- 
dred and twenty-four years after its erection, it 
was entirely destroyqd by Nebuchadnezzar. 

Solomon probably felt as many other young 
men have, while not guilty of great crimes, that 
he was capable of self-control, and though he should 
put himself in the way of temptation by marrying 
heathen wives, he should not be led into idolatrv 
by their example. We never know our own strength 
in resisting evil till it is tried, therefore we should 
daily pray, ''Lead us not into temptation. '^ 

The first eleven years of Solomon's reign went 
by prosperously. The house of the Lord was fin- 

King Solomon. n 



66 THE HISTOKY OF KING SOLOMON. 

ished, and every morning and evening, withont in- 
termission, according to the command of the Lord, 
an innocent lamb was offered, which typified ''the 
Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the 
world. '^ This ceremony Solomon was careful to 
maintain, for upon it rested a promise, and he was 
anxious to retain God as his friend. He had now 
become a great monarch ; he was leagued with 
Hiram, king of Tyre : Pharaoh was his father-in- 
law, and his dominions stretched from the Mediter- 
ranean to the Euphrates, and from far north of 
Damascus down to the river of Egypt. Moreover, 
the fame of his greatness and wisdom had spread 
throughout all the nations around him, and princes 
and great men with presents of great value, were 
continually coming to Jerusalem to witness his un- 
equalled splendor. The house of cedar which Da- 
vid had built with Hiram's assistance, and in which 
Solomon had been brought up, was not now suited 
to his wants, and he laid the foundations of one of 



THE DEDICATION. 67 

the most magnificent palaces of his day. Josephus 
informs ns that ' ' it was a large and curious build- 
ing, made entirely of white stone, cedar-wood, gold 
and silver. '' 

Palaces in those days occupied in some instan- 
ces several acres of ground, which were enclosed 
with high and strong walls. Within these were 
buildings of every description, for the entertain- 
ment of thousands of guests ; while groves, foun- 
tains, and gardens beautified the place. Most build- 
ings had open courts in the centre, with galleries 
encircling three sides, supported by large marble 
pillars. The building which Solomon erected for 
his palace was one hundred and fifty-five feet long, 
seventy-five wide and forty-five high, the pillars 
being of cedar, in quadrangular form. There was 
also another structure over against the palace, 
raised upon massive pillars, with a court attached, 
in which was a splendid room where Solomon sat 
to judge the people. To this was joined a palace 



68 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

for the queen, and in other localities were smaller 
edifices for his vast household. A large number of 
great and costly stones were cut from the quarry 
with saws, and after they had been carved in a 
very curious manner, with representations of trees 
and plants with pendant leaves, they were placed 
in the house for walls and ceilings. The carving 
is said to have completely covered the stone, and 
the leaves were made so thin and natural that a 
person would almost expect to see them stirred by 
the air. 

Several other edifices are mentioned by Jose- 
phus, and among them a splendid room for feast- 
ing, where all the dishes were of pure gold. ''Now 
it is very hard,'' he adds, "to reckon up the vari- 
ety and magnitude of the royal apartments, how 
many that were subterraneous and invisible ; the 
curious form of those that enjoyed the fresh air ; 
and the groves, for the most delightful prospect and 
the avoiding of the heat.'' 



THE DEDICATION. 69 

Solomon also built a great throne of ivory, over- 
laid with the purest gold. On either side of the 
seat, as he sat before the people, stood two lions ; 
and on the six steps by which he ascended the 
throne stood twelve lions, six on the one side and 
six on the other ; there was not the like made in 
any kingdom. This structure was thirteen years 
in building, and some idea can be formed of the 
spacious palace and its occupants, when we re- 
member that ''there was supplied every day for 
those who fed at the king's table, two hundred and 
eighty bushels of fine flour, five hundred and sixty 
bushels of meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out 
of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides harts 
and roebucks, and fallow deer, and fatted fowl.'^ 
Twelve officers were appointed to make provision 
for the king's table, each acting one month out of 
the twelve. 

We of this nineteenth century, with our new 
inventions and boasted improvements, are apt to 



70 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

think that we are emphaticall}^ the people, and that 
the ancients were comparatively an inferior race ; 
bnt where can we now look for snch skilful work- 
manship, such affluence and gorgeous display, uni- 
ted with unequalled wisdom, as in the reign of Sol- 
omon, who lived nearly three thousand years ago ? 
During the first twenty-four years of his reign, he 
accomplished more in elevating and enriching the 
nation, than had ever before been effected. 

Under the Phoenicians, the Israelites had been 
taking lessons in the arts of building, farming, quar- 
rying, and navigation ; arts in which they had hith- 
erto been very deficient. 

But prosperity is not generally favorable to a 
spirit of piety, and Solomon was daily becoming 
more and more absorbed in the affairs of the world, 
and less sensitive to the wickedness which met him 
on every hand. Idolatry was insinuating itself into 
the very heart of the nation, and even Solomon 
himself was doing more for its establishment, than 



THE DEDICATION. 71 

any other individual in the kingdom. For, very 
frequently, some young and beautiful heathen prin- 
cess, with all her love for idol worship, was trans- 
planted, contrary to the express command of God, 
from her own native home to the palace of Solo- 
mon, where she exerted over him and others her 
baneful influence. 

Among these was a woman from Sidon, a city 
in Phoenicia. This country, so famed in history, 
was only about one hundred and twenty miles long, 
and twenty broad, but it had five cities of note. 
Arad was in the extreme north ; eighteen miles 
south lay, and still lies, Tripolis ; still farther south 
was Berytus, now Beyroot, which in 1823 became 
a missionary station, where the Rev. Dr. Eli Smith 
and others have labored with much success. The 
next city south was Sidon, supposed to have been 
built by the eldest son of Canaan, which would give 
it an age of at least a thousand years before Solo- 
mon. Then came Tyre, Hiram ^s capital, which was 



72 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

of great renown, having colonies and ports of its 
own on many other shores. Carthage, that old and 
illustrious city on the African coast, was their col- 
ony, and on the southwestern coast of Spain was a 
port of theirs, called Tarshish, or Tartessus. Ships 
bound to that port often made long and adven- 
turous voyages, and on that account were called 
''ships of Tarshish.'' On one of these Jonah took 
passage, when fleeing from the Lord. 

The Tyrians also had ports in the Persian Gulf, 
from which they received many goods. Being 
skilled in ship-building, they excelled all other 
nations of that day in the art of navigation. Their 
ship boards were made from fir-trees, their masts 
of cedar, and their oars of the oaks of Bashan. 
Their benches were partly of ivory, and their sails 
were fine embroidered linen from Egypt. With 
pilots from Sidon, their old capitol, they sailed into 
different countries, and traded extensively in all 
kinds of riches — gold, silver, tin, lead, brass, and 



THE DEDICATION. 73 

horses, fine linen, coral, and agate. And it is said 
that they even sailed around the southern cape of 
Mrica, where 'Uhey were brought into great wa- 
ters, and were broken by the sea.'' They visited 
the Ionian islands and Greece, where they pur- 
chased cassia, calamus, and other products of the 
country. They also bought the persons of men 
from foreigners, and chests of rich apparel, and 
precious cloths for chariots. See Ezekiel, chap. 27. 

Thus Tyre was flourishing when Solomon made 
a league with Hiram, and married, it is said, his 
daughter. Phoenicia was more enlightened in re- 
gard to literature, than any other nation then in 
existence, and had in the time of Joshua sent let- 
ters and science by Cadmus into Grreece. 

In order to gratify this Sidonian lady whom 
he had married, Solomon built a temple to Asto- 
reth, one of her gods, on the Mount of Olives, in 
view of the temple of his own Grod ; and not many 
years passed before, for similar reasons, a temple 



74 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

was erected to Chemosli, the god of the Moabites. 
His Ammonitess wife then preferred her claim, and 
Solomon granted her request, and built a temple 
for Moloch, or Milcom, near the same spot. The 
worshippers of this cruel god, supposing that he 
could be pleased by the screams and cries of tor- 
mented children, compelled their little ones to pass 
through the fire, or cast them into the red-hot arms 
of his image, while with drums, the people drowned 
their agonies. These sounds must have mingled 
very discordantly with the solemn worship in Jeho- 
vah's temple ; and it is surprising that Solomon, 
with all his wisdom, could tolerate practices so re- 
volting and inhuman, and in the eyes of his own 
Grod, so dreadfully wicked. But we must remem- 
ber that many steps in his downward course had 
been taken before he openly sanctioned these abom- 
inations. His first sin lay in placing himself in the 
way of temptation by marrying heathen wives, after 
which there was no security for him, and he ran 



THE DEDICATION. 75 

his downward course with rapidity. The worship 
at the temple Chemosh is supposed to have consist- 
ed '^in revelling and drunkenness, obscenities and 
impurities of the grossest kind f and Solomon may 
have satisfied his conscience with the idea that he 
was in circumstances which he could not control, 
and that, as a good and kind husband, he must 
wink at some practices which his heart condemned. 
The king had become a great architect ; and as 
he never did any thing on a small scale, all these 
palaces and temples were no doubt made after his 
own ideas of splendor and magnificence. During 
all this building, Solomon called freely upon Hiram, 
king of Tyre, for wood, stone, gold, and workmen, 
and consequently, a national debt had been created 
of considerable magnitude, which Solomon wished 
to cancel. Having twenty cities lying on the north 
of Palestine, which are supposed to have been cap- 
tured from the neighboring province, Solomon offered 
them to Hiram, who seemed to think them a suflfi- 



76 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

cient remuneration. Some time after, however, he 
took a journey over that part of the country to see 
them, and as he went from one to another, he found 
them either in ruins, or of so little worth, that he 
returned home quite displeased, and sent word to 
Solomon that they were not such cities as he want- 
ed. Hiram called them the land of Cabul, or that 
which displeases. Solomon probably found means 
to satisfy the claims of Hiram, for these two kings 
continued friends, and assisted each other for many 
years after. The twenty cities in question Solomon 
afterwards repaired, and retained in his own king- 
dom. 

Not far from this time, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, 
seems to have visited his daughter ; and as she was 
settled so magnificently in her own house, she prob- 
ably entertained him and his courtiers in great 
pomp. Why he came into Palestine is not stated, 
but as he was Solomon's ally, as well as father-in- 
law, it is not at all surprising that he should visit 



THE DEDICATION. 77 

the country. He may have been out on a cam- 
paign, and merely called on his return, for we read 
of his doing nothing in that neighborhood, except 
conquering Gezer, a city of the Canaanites, between 
Jerusalem and the Mediterranean, which he gave 
to his daughter. This city had been left, by Joshua 
and the judges, to its old heathen inhabitants, who 
paid tribute to Israel ; but this Egyptian king ap- 
pears to have destroyed or expelled all the remain- 
ing Canaanites in it, for the sake of giving his 
daughter a present. It is to be hoped that he re- 
turned home without further slaughter or conquests. 
Soon after, Solomon sent out his men, and rebuilt 
and walled his wife^s city, for it was a place natu- 
rally strong, and might be of service to the coun- 
try in time of war. The two Beth-horons, Upper 
and Lower, which lay about twelve miles northwest 
of Jerusalem, needed repairing, and Solomon^s men 
were ordered to go to work upon them, which they 
did. Large and strong walls, with heavy gates and 



78 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

bars, were built, and the whole was finished accord- 
ing to the king's direction. 

Notwithstanding Solomon had so much to do, 
and so much to do with, he frequently returned to 
his great and splendid palace, feeling as many men 
in poorer circumstances have since done, "that all 
was vanity and vexation of spirit/' There is one 
thing which the readers of this little book may not 
yet understand, and would not perhaps believe if 
they were told it; which is, that there is nothing 
in this world's riches that can make them perfectly 
happy. If you live to realize all your present an- 
ticipations, you will feel at last, like Solomon, that 
you need something else to make you truly blessed. 



SOLOMON'S SPIRIT OF ENTEEPRISE. 79 



CHAPTEE VII. 

Solomon's Spirit of Enterprise — His 
Experiments. 

Far at the east of Palestine lay the Babylonian 
empire, with its great rivers Euphrates and Tigris, 
and their tributaries, watering thousands of acres 
of rich and cultivated land, while numberless cities 
teeming with human beings, lay in the plains be- 
tween, or on the shores of the gulf, and in the vast 
region beyond. To secure an exchange of products 
with these people was an object of great interest 
with western nations. 

Large caravans, loaded with eastern wealth, 
were frequently arriving at the cities of Phoenicia, 
or passing on to the western country of Asia- 
Minor. Solomon saw the golden stream, and de- 



80 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

termined to turn it into liis own reservoirs. Da- 
mascus, that great emporium of trade, was already 
in his possession, it having been conquered in the 
time of David, his father ; and in order to facilitate 
travel with the interior, it was deemed necessary 
to build a city in the great valley between Mount 
Lebanon, Phoenicia's western boundary, and Anti- 
Lebanon, which lay farther at the east. There are 
at this day extensive ruins of a city lying in this 
locality, called Baalbeck, which is supposed by 
many to have been the same that Solomon built at 
that time. Yery little is said in the Bible concern- 
ing this city, but some things in the style of archi- 
tecture go to show that Solomon was its builder. 
On the pillars and their caps, and upon the lintels 
of the doors of a heathen temple in the city, are 
found the carved lily, the emblem of peace, whose 
leaves are often from twelve to eighteen inches in 
length ; the pomegranate, signifying plenty, and the 
net-work, typical of unity or brotherly love ; and 



SOLOMON'S SPIEIT OF ENTEEPEISE. 81 

a late writer observes: ''There is now no room to 
doubt that this temple was erected by Solomon, 
and that Baalbeck is the Baalath of the Bible. *^ 

This was not the first temple of the kind to 
which he had given his influence and money. The 
ruins at Baalbeck surpass in magnificence almost 
all the ancient ruins that have been found. 

An Arabian writer says: "Baalbeck is a city 
of three' days journey west of Damascus, where are 
wonderful structures and magnificent vestiges of 
antiquity, and palaces with marble columns, such 
as in the whole world are nowhere else to be found.'' 
The temple, according to Dr. Bement's measure- 
ment, is eight hundred feet long and five hundred 
feet wide, and would accommodate many thousands 
of worshippers. Part of the wall of the temple is 
composed of blocks of hard sandstone, so perfectly 
polished and adjusted to each other, that it would 
be difficult to insert a fine knife-blade between 
them. Three of the stones in the wall surrounding 

King Solomon. Q 



82 THE HISTOKY OF KING SOLOMON. 

the city, are severally ten- feet through, fourteen 
feet high, and sixty-eight long ; and by what mighty 
power these were placed in their present position, 
is a mystery to the wisest architects of the present 
day. It was a great achievement, and Solomon no 
doubt was elated with the wonderful works which 
he had accomplished, when he exclaimed : ''Lo, I am 
come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom 
than all they who have gone before me in Jerusalem.'^ 
Flattering rumors also of his wisdom had gone 
through the then known world, and perhaps his 
self-complacency was not a little increased, as day 
after day courtiers and princes from foreign coun- 
tries arrived, to seek his favor and pay him honor. 
It is quite natural that the human heart, under such 
circumstances, should be inflated with pride ; but in 
the retiracy of his own chamber, Solomon took 
rational views of life, and saw that nothing could 
be enjoyed in this world, which would fully satisfy 
the human soul. 



solomon;s spieit of ENTEKPEISE. 83 

Determining, however, to leave nothing untried 
in the pursuit of pleasure, and possessing some of 
the musical taste of his father, he provided his lux- 
urious palace with a select band of musicians, both 
male and female, and supplied them with all kinds 
of musical instruments. The numerous ladies and 
children of the palace were no doubt greatly de- 
lighted with this arrangement, and Solomon himself 
may have thought that he had in a great measure 
secured the happiness for which he sought. He 
also for a time gave himself up to mirth, and was 
surrounded by the most witty, gay, and dissipated 
of his courtiers, to see if there was any real good 
or happiness in that course of life. Many seemed 
to enjoy with a keen relish the jolly humor which 
he was testing; but Solomon, after a fair trial, de- 
clared that laughter was madness, and that mirth 
added nothing to substantial pleasure. 

Observing that wine elated the spirits of its 
admirers, he concluded to give that a fair test, and 



84 THE HISTOKY OF KING SOLOMON. 

indulge his appetite, and se€ what it could do for 
him ; yet he determined to conduct the experiment 
with wisdom, and not give himself up to excess. 
It was a dangerous experiment even for this wise 
man ; and it is surely great folly for any one with 
less wisdom to tamper with so dangerous a foe. He 
saw that this too was all folly ; and although for the 
moment cares might be forgotten and trials light- 
ened, yet in the end sorrow and disgust were the 
consequence. 

These courses and all similar ones he then left 
for the foolish ; while he attempted to satisfy him- 
self in the more rational way of improving his own 
premises and estates. He planted vineyards and 
beautiful gardens, and at a very great expense made 
orchards and parks, transplanting trees in them of 
all kinds of fruit, both of such as were natural to 
that climate, and also those which were brought 
from other countries; and lest they should die in 
droughts, he made great pools for water at vast 



SOLOMON'S SPIKIT OF ENTEKPBISE. 85 

expense, and by some contrivance succeeded in 
conveying this water to his gardens and orchards. 
Three very large reservoirs near Bethlehem, the 
water of which is conveyed to Jerusalem in an 
ancient aqueduct, are still called Solomon's Pools. 
This was a pleasant employment, and served to 
amuse and divert him for some time. He also had 
numerous servants, ready to go at his bidding ; and 
as for cattle, no one who had ever lived in Jerusa- 
lem had as many or as great a variety. The same 
might be said in regard to his wives ; for they, like 
the trees of his gardens, were gathered from all 
countries, and transplanted with all their foreign 
customs into that land of promise, and needed con- 
stant watching and training to get and keep them 
in the right way. But as there were seven hun- 
dred or a thousand of them, it was too much for 
any one man to attempt, and Solomon was obliged 
to yield in a great measure to this foreign influence, 
and found himself at length very far from the prin- 



86 THE HISTORY OF KING SOLOMON. 

ciples he had formed in his youth. The marrying 
of so many heathen wives was the most sinful and 
pernicious of all his experiments after happiness. 

Taking a retrospective view of his course in 
life to secure pleasure, he declared that the whole 
was vanity and vexation of spirit, without the least 
real profit ; and his testimony on this subject ought 
surely to be believed, for his opportunities for judg- 
ing were better than those of any other man. Yet 
the young are incredulous, and each person prefers 
to try the foolish experiment of pleasure-seeking 
for himself. 

Solomon's prosperity was constantly on the in- 
crease, and the whole nation over whom he ruled 
looked upon him with reverence and gratification, 
and probably concluded that their wisdom in 
choosing a king was not to be questioned, whatever 
might have been thought of it years before by the 
old prophet Samuel. But the outward prosperity 
of a nation is not always a sure index to their 



SOLOMON'S SPIRIT OF ENTEEPRISE. 87 

real condition ; as we see in the case of the Israel- 
ites, who were so infatuated by the wealth and 
flattery that poured in upon them from every quar- 
ter, that they failed to observe the canker-sore of 
idolatry, which was eating out their very existence. 
It is true, an outward show of religion was kept 
up at the temple, and that every evening and 
morning a lamb without spot or blemish was laid 
upon the altar as an atonement for sin, which 
served to keep in remembrance that greater Sacri- 
fice which was to come, and towards which this 
pointed ; for without the shedding of blood, there 
is no remission of sins. 

As long as this worship was observed, God 
promised to • meet with and bless his people ; so 
Christians in all ages may hope for similar bless- 
ings, if they, through the blood of Christ, hold com- 
munion daily with an offended but merciful Grod. 



88 THE HISTOKY OF KING SOLOMON. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

The Golden Shields — Tadmor of the' Wil- 
derness — Ship- Building. 

Solomon, having a large amount of gold, which 
had been accumulating from different sources, and 
no war occurring to call for its use, employed skil- 
ful workmen and made up some of it into shields, 
which were designed probably for his body-guard 
on great occasions. Two hundred of these shields 
were of superior worth, while three hundred were 
of less weight; but they were all of pure gold, 
and are estimated to have been worth over a mill- 
ion of dollars. A vast amount of money, truly, to 
be expended on articles for mere pomp and dis- 
play, and to hang idly upon the walls of the house 
of Lebanon, where these were placed when out of 



THE GOLDEN SHIELDS. 89 

use. Admiring visitors, it is true, beheld in won- 
der this display of the wealth of the sovereign, 
but there were better uses for riches then, as now : 
were this amount now placed in the treasury of the 
Lord, and used to scatter the glad news of salva- 
tion, angels would rejoice over returning and re- 
penting sinners, who would behold with wonder the 
boundless wealth of mercy there is in the King of 
kings. 

Solomon also prepared himself one thousand 
and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand 
horsemen. Forty thousand stalls for horses were 
made in the different cities of his kingdom, and 
these cities were put in a state of complete defence, 
and stored with corn, wine, and oil ; and had a war 
occurred, they would have been places of safety, 
into which the people could have run for protec- 
tion. But for years no enemy appeared, and the 
country increased in wealth and enterprise. 

Solomon saw that the walls which surrounded 



90 THE HISTOKY OF KING SOLOMON. 

the city of Jerusalem were not sufficiently strong 
to keep out an invading army, and ordered his 
engineers to go to work and strengthen them, and 
to place towers upon the top, where men in time of 
battle could shelter themselves while they fought 
their foes. The city was strongly fortified by 
nature, for on three sides were deep valleys ; but, 
besides this, strong walls extended all around the 
city. 

These works being accomplished, Solomon's atten- 
tion was turned to the difficulties which travellers 
to the East had to encounter in crossing that long, 
bleak desert, into which they at once struck on 
leaving Damascus. Every now and then a fierce 
hot wind from the south set in motion the burning 
sand, and greatly endangered the lives of travel- 
lers. For three days' journey, no tree, nor stream 
of water, nor shrub, nor grass, nor verdure of any 
kind was to be seen ; and a bed in the sand was 
the only lodging-place on this route. There were 



TADMOK IN THE DESEET. 91 

a few verdant spots on the desert, and after about 
a hundred miles of travel from Damascus, one of 
some size met the longing gaze of the weary travel- 
lers, where a few palm-trees grew luxuriantly near 
a fountain of water. Every heart revived at this 
sight, and even the patient camels quickened their 
pace to reach a spot where their thirst might be 
quenched ; but ferocious beasts of prey lurked here 
in ambush, which greatly endangered the safety 
and comfort of the travellers. Great and almost 
insurmountable difficulties must be encountered in 
attempting to build a city in such a place, for there 
was neither wood nor stone to be had upon the 
oasis. Yet with characteristic perseverance, Solo- 
mon determined to do it, and ordered his men to 
commence the work. How long the city was in 
building we are not told, but a modern traveller 
who visited ''Tadmor of the wilderness/' describes 
its ruins as extensive and grand. The remains of 
a large temple with its ornamented carvings of the 



92 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

lily, the pomegranate and net- work, plainly point 
back to the days of Solomon. Some of the stones 
in the walls are immense, similar in size to those 
at Baalbec; yet there are no qnarries where they 
conld have been dng nearer than one hundred miles 
across the desert; and by what power they were 
transported that distance, remains as yet an impen- 
etrable mystery. Palaces and dwellings, however, 
came into existence, and there in the heart of the 
desert sprung up the city of Tadmor or Palmyra, 
with its thousands of human beings, eager in the 
chase of life. 

Josephus, in speaking of it, says, ''Solomon 
went as far as the desert above Syria, and possessed 
himself of it, and built there a very great city, which 
was distant two days' journey from Upper Syria, 
and one day's journey from the Euphrates, and six 
days' journey from Babylon the great. Now the 
reason why this city lay so remote from the parts 
of Syria that axe inhabited, is this: that below, 



TADMOK IN THE DESEET. 93 

there is no water to be had, and it is in that place 
only that there are springs and pits of vf ater. When 
he had therefore built this city and encompassed it 
with very strong walls, he gave it the name of Tad- 
mor, but the Glreeks called it Palmyra/^ By the 
protection of this city the perils of the desert-trade, 
though still terrible, were greatly mitigated ; for 
there caravans found rest, food, and shelter. 

Wealth, now, through Tadmor, Damascus, and 
Baalbec, and from various other sources, poured in 
upon Solomon, till he surpassed all the kings of the 
earth in his riches, while his wisdom was unparal- 
leled. As a scholar and writer in the sciences 
and literature of his day he was unequalled: he 
composed a thousand and five songs, and three 
thousand proverbs, of which those that have been 
preserved are worthy of the careful study and 
attention of the young in every age. "He spake 
of trees, from the cedar-tree that is in Lebanon, 
even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall ; 



94 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creep- 
ing tilings, and of fishes.'^ ^' And all the kings of 
the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear 
his wisdom that Grod had put into his heart ; and 
they brought every man his present, vessels of sil- 
ver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, harness and 
spices, horses and mules, a rate year by year.'^ 
''And they brought unto Solomon horses out of 
Egypt, and out of all lands.'' And Solomon ''made 
silver in Jerusalem as stones.'' 

Finding no other great work at hand which 
demanded his immediate attention, he determined 
to go in person to Ezion-G-eber, and build there a 
navy of ships which would compete with Hiram's, 
who had hitherto almost monopolized trade hj nav- 
igation. Ezion-Geber was a seaport town on the 
northeastern extremity of the Red sea ; and during 
David's life it had been conquered and kept in pos- 
session of the Israelites, to whom it was a place of 
great importance on account of its location upon a 



SHIP-BUILDING. 95 

southern sea. For a hundred and fifty years it 
was retained, and then the Edomites, from whom 
it had been taken, recovered it. It was afterwards 
retaken by King Uzziah, who fortified it anew ; but 
after a few years it fell into the hands of the Syri- 
ans, and then of the Romans and the Turks, 

While it was owned by David, he commenced 
there a commercial intercourse with other nations ; 
and now Solomon engaged skilful men of Hiram, 
and taking many of his own servants as workmen, 
went down in person to superintend his enterprise. 
The ships were no doubt made after the fashion of 
Hiram's, both in their construction and materials ; 
for Solomon would not at that time be outdone in 
any undertaking, by a king of less notorietj^ and 
wealth. It was a great work and occupied much 
time, but at length the ships were finished and 
launched. 

Hiram's men had peculiar skill in navigation; 
and they, with the assistance of a few Israelites 



96 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON 




whom Solomon wished to go in order to acquire 
the art, manned the ships. It was gratifying to 
the king to see that fleet, all his own, riding so 
gracefully in the bay of Ezion-Greber, with its sails 
unfurled to the breeze, ready to enter upon the 
East India trade, where lay wealth untold ; and 



SHIP-BUILDING. 97 

this is perhaps as ancient an authentic account of 
the trade, which has since enriched all nations who 
have entered upon it, as there is extant. The prin- 
cipal place of destination was the land of Ophir; 
the situation of which has been the subject of much 
unsatisfactory research, and which is conjectured 
by some to have been in the south of Africa, or 
Hindostan. Towards Ophir they set sail, while 
probably Solomon, his attendants, and many oth- 
ers, watched with enthusiastic feelings the retreat- 
ing ships till they were lost to view. Three years 
must go by before they could again enter that port, 
and Solomon returned to Jerusalem. 

The voyage was successful, and at the appointed 
time the ships returned to Ezion-Geber loaded with 
the riches and curiosities of the lands they had 
visited. Four hundred and fifty talents of gold 
were on board, estimated to have been worth over 
ten millions of dollars ; besides this, there were sil- 
ver and ivory and apes and peacocks ; all of which 

Kin^ Snlonion. Y 



98 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

Solomon took to Jerusalem. This wealth greatly 
delighted the king; and no doubt the strange ani- 
mals and birds were placed in his gardens, where 
they served to amuse not only the inmates and 
guests of the palace, but also the visitors from coun- 
tries where such creatures were unknown. 

Grreat risks were then run by sailing without 
compass or chart with such vessels through un- 
known seas ; but voyage after voyage was made 
with great perseverance, and like results. Children 
with never-dying souls should, in the voyage of 
life, be willing to overcome every obstacle to gain 
those durable riches which shall be valuable long 
after this world and its scenes are swallowed up in 
eternity. Let us lay up treasures in heaven, for 
where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also. 



VISIT OF THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. 99 



CHAPTEE IX. 

The Visit of the Queen of Sheba — God is 
Angry with Solomon. 

Traders from all parts of the then known world 
were, for commercial purposes, passing to and from 
Palestine, which had now arrived at the zenith of 
its glory ; and they saw with astonishment the daz- 
zling splendor of the king, the immense wealth at 
his command, and the vast works which he had 
made. But their amazement was greatly increased 
by the wisdom of his proverbs and the beauty of 
his songs, which his subjects no doubt were proud 
to repeat to all foreigners of note who visited their 
country. Josephus says that Solomon sent riddles 
to Hiram, with the understanding that if they were 
not solved, certain sums of money should be re- 



100 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

turned; and that Solomon received great sums in 
this way. Hiram, in return, propounded riddles 
which Solomon failed to unravel, and consequently 
was obliged to return part of the money he had 
received. If this be true, and the riddles were 
made public, as they very likely were, much inter- 
est would be felt in their solution, even by the for- 
eigners who visited the country. When the travel- 
lers returned home, these things would form the 
subject of their conversation, and thus the fame of 
Solomon spread far and near. 

An intelligent and inquisitive queen, who lived 
probably in southern Arabia, or perhaps in Africa, 
heard her subjects talking of the wonders they had 
seen and heard in Palestine, and did not believe 
their reports ; but she determined to go up and 
learn the truth of the matter, and test King Solo- 
mon's wisdom by hard questions of her own. 

Dr. Scott thinks this queen was a descendant 
of Abraham by Keturah, and had some knowl- 



VISIT OF THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. 101 

edge of the God of her fathers ; and that it was 
upon this subject that she wished to question Solo- 
mon. Taking a great company of courtiers and 
attendants, with many camels laden with gold and 
precious stones, she left her home of comfort and 
plenty, to endure the fatigues of the long and toil- 
some journey. 

At length she reached her place of destination ; 
the gates were thrown open, and this queen and 
her very great train entered the far-famed city of 
Jerusalem. Solomon, dressed in his royal robes, 
received and entertained her according to her rank 
and dignity. 

The gorgeous temple with its worship, and rich 
in its religious teachings, was to her particularly 
interesting ; for, it was the shrine of Jehovah, with 
whom Solomon's fame was so closely connected ; 
and all her hard questions in regard to the require- 
ments, character, and worship of Grod, Solomon 
readily answered, to her great surprise and joy. 



102 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON 




She dined at his palace, where the dishes were 
of pure gold, and was amazed at the house he had 
built and the provisions of his table, "and the sit- 
ting of his servants, and the attendance of his min- 
isters, and their apparel ; and his cup-bearers, and 
his ascent by which he went up into the house of 
the Lord.'' He showed her his great ivory throne 
and his gardens and orchards, and his golden shields 



VISIT or THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. 103 

which hung in the house of Lebanon, and his char- 
iots and horsemen. She probably saw Rehoboam, 
who was brought up in all this luxury, and who 
was heir to the wealth and glory which surrounded 
him. 

She may have also seen many of the beautiful 
wives of Solomon, and listened in silent wonder to 
the sweet strains of music which floated through 
the long corridors of this magnificent palace. The 
whole was overpowering to her senses, and she 
found no words in which to express her overwhelm- 
ing astonishment. 

At length she exclaimed, '' It was a true report 
that I heard in my own land of thine arts and of thy 
wisdom ! Howbeit I believed not the words until I 
came and mine eyes had seen it ; and behold, the half 
was not told me ! thy wisdom and prosperity exceed- 
eth the fame which I heard. Happy are thy men, 
happy are these thy servants which stand continu- 
ally before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. Blessed 



104 THE HISTORY OF KING SOLOMON. 



be the Lord thy God which delighted in thee, to 
set thee on the throne of Israel ; because the Lord 
loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, 
to do judgment and justice.'' 

When monarchs visited each other in that age 
of the world, it was their custom to give presents, 
according to their wealth and rank ; and this queen 
now ordered hers to be brought to King Solomon. 
The first offering was the gold — one hundred and 
twenty talents — estimated as over two and a half 
millions of dollars. 

This was truly a magnificent present ; but after 
it, she gave a very great quantity of aroi^atic 
spices, such as Solomon never before or afterwards 
received. That kind did not grow in Palestine, 
neither was it much imported ; it was therefore to 
him of great value. 

After this she opened her caskets of precious 
stones, which were radiant and sparkling in their 
beauty, and gave them to the king. 



VISIT OF THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. 105 

Solomon was of course very much pleased with 
her gifts, and encouraged her to say what there was 
among his treasures that would be new or desirable 
to her ; and whatever she selected or expressed a 
wish to possess, that he freely gave her ; and when 
she would no longer choose, he of his own accord 
presented her a vast amount of his royal bounty. 

Her visit being ended, she called together her 
retinue, took leave of the king, and returned to her 
native country greatly delighted with all she had 
seen and heard; and she carried home a report 
which far exceeded in its marvellous character that 
which had preceded her visit. 

While these things were transpiring, other peo- 
ple were arriving from different parts of the earth, 
bringing gold, silver, and precious stones ; and Sol- 
omon's ships were unloading upon his shores an 
abundance of the products of foreign countries. 
Among these were almug-trees, a valuable wood, 
out of which he made pillars and terraces for his 



103 THE HISTORY OF KING SOLOMON. 

palace and the temple ; besides psalteries, harps, 
and all kinds of musical instruments. It is not now 
exactly known what this coral-wood was, but Solo- 
mon put it to such uses as would be likely to pre- 
serve it to posterity, for no such wood had ever 
before been seen in Palestine. 

In one year there came to Solomon six hundred 
and sixty-six talents of gold, which was over six- 
teen millions of dollars; "besides what he had of 
merchantmen, and traffickers in spices, and of all the 
kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the coun- 
try.'^ Thus gold became so plenty that silver was 
of no account. Solomon had also a navy, which, 
with Hiram's, visited Tarshish, and returned every 
three years bringing gold and silver, ivory and apes, 
and peacocks. 

Among the imports which came from Egypt was 
linen yarn. Some may imagine that this was not 
equal to that which is spun at this day ; but those 
who have examined the linen cloth which is now 



VISIT OF THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. 107 

found upon Egyptian mummies that were buried 
before Solomon's day, will acknowledge it to be 
equal perhaps to the finest of later years. 

Pharaoh seems to have carried on a profitable 
trade with Solomon, his son-in-law, to the exclusion 
of other persons ; and the price of whatever was 
taken was fixed by contract. Thus a good chariot 
horse could be had for about seventv-five dollars, 
and a chariot for three hundred dollars ; and what- 
ever Solomon received more than he wanted for his 
own use, was readily disposed of to the surround- 
ing kings at large prices. 

Josephus says that ''Solomon had twenty- two 
thousand horses, and that they were very much 
exercised, that they might run swiftly and make a 
fine appearance ; and that they exceeded all others 
for beauty. Their riders were young men noted 
for their size ; and being tall and dressed in Syrian 
purple, with their "hair like Absalom's, '^ hanging 
down their backs and sprinkled with gold, they 



108 



THE HISTORY OF KING SOLOMON 




made a very imposing and sparkling appearance. 
Each one had his bows and armor fitted to him. 
Solomon, dressed in white, and seated high in his 
chariot, often rode in the morning in the midst of 
these horsemen or a part of them, to a place about 



VISIT OF THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. 109 

six miles from Jerusalem, where were fine gardens 
and rivulets of water.'^ 

Some of my young readers may by this time be 
quite astonished at the vast wealth, power, and 
display of Solomon ; and ready to exclaim, that if 
they were as rich, they would do a great deal of 
good, and make every one around them happy. 
Many young and older people have had the same 
feelings before, when looking upon those far above 
them in wealth ; but when wealth comes, it seems 
to clog up their good intentions and make the heart 
as cold and hard as the gold it loves. When money 
does this it is a curse, and we had better remain 
poor, and do what good we can by kind words and 
loving acts. If Solomon had remained in the mod- 
erate circumstances he was in when named Jedi- 
diah, his life might have borne more testimony to 
the declaration that he loved the Lord ; and his 
influence would then have been better over his son 
Rehoboam, who was growing up proud, arrogant, 



no THE HISTOKY OF KING SOLOMON. 

and self-willed ; and it will not be surprising if we 
jSnd him in after life a weak and wicked king. 

During all the intoxicating prosperity which 
filled Solomon's reign, we see him struggling, though 
feebly, against the tide of sinful influences which 
dash against the weak barriers his conscience op- 
poses ; and we hear him despairingly exclaim, *'I 
said, I will be wise ; but it was far from me.'' 

He had placed his feet upon the ground against 
which God had warned him, and as age advanced 
he gave fearful indications of an utter fall. The 
eyes of the world were upon him, for he had been 
renowned for his piety as well as for wisdom and 
wealth, and had built a house for the Glreat Jeho- 
vah, whom he assured Hiram that the heaven of 
heavens could not contain ; and now, will he, who 
has been employed as an inspired writer, and who 
has given such wise and excellent warnings to oth- 
ers, apostatize and fall down before stocks and 
stones, the work of men's hands, and worship? 



VISIT OF THE QUEEN OF SHEBA. Ill 

Poor human nature is the same in all ages of the 
world; and the injunction of our Saviour, "Watch 
and pray, lest ye enter into temptation, '^ cannot be 
too closely followed and obeyed by the blood- 
bought souls of earth. 

Solomon declared that he had denied himself 
nothing which his eyes desired ; but in thus indul- 
ging his fancies, he had gone directly contrary to the 
express command of God. He loved and married 
many foreign women, together with the daughter 
of Pharaoh ; ''Women of the Moabites, Ammonites, 
Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites, of the nations 
concerning which the Lord said unto the children 
of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall 
they come in unto you ; for surely they will turn 
away your heart after their gods." Yet Solomon 
married seven hundred of them, and they did turn 
away his heart, as the Lord had said. 

It is not a little surprising that Solomon should 
have gone to other lands for wives, when the women 



112 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

of Palestine were worshippers at the temple, and 
also noted for their beauty. He may have suc- 
ceeded in proselyting Pharaoh's daughter, for Ave 
hear of no temples erected for the gods of Egypt; 
and if so, he may have hoped to convert to his 
faith all whom he might gather into his palace. 
Many, even in this day, found their marriage rela- 
tions upon similar hopes, but generally find, like 
Solomon, that instead of influencing their partners, 
they themselves are the losers. It is said that Sol- 
omon not only built a place of worship for Chemosh, 
the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of 
Jerusalem, and for Moloch, the abomination of the 
children of Ammon, of which we have already spo- 
ken, but did the same for all his wives, who burned 
incense and sacrificed unto their gods. 

It is not at all surprising that the women who 
had the power to lead the king thus far, should 
succeed in after years in inducing him to accom- 
pany them into their temples, when they prostrated 



GOD IS ANGRY WITH SOLOMON. 113 

themselves in lieathenisli worship before their sense- 
less images. Solomon no donbt felt when he mar- 
ried his Egyptian wife, that he was capable of self- 
control, and shonld never be led by her to forsake 
his God ; and perhaps he might have stood, had 
that influence remained single ; but when the door 
of our hearts is opened for one sin, it always stands 
ajar, and under one pretext and another, other sins 
enter ; till finally, unless God rescues us, they take 
the reins of our wills and drive us where they 
please. This frequently was Solomon's condition 
when he was between fifty and fifty-five years of 
age. He had forfeited the promise of a long life, 
and was now rapidly approaching that long home 
whence no traveller returns ; yet if he did not bow 
in worship to heathen deities, he countenanced by 
his presence this worship in others. Truly, the 
world would not call him, bigoted, or illiberal in 
his views, as it does those who rigidly maintain 
their own ideas of right and wrong ; but on the con- 

Klusr Solomo*. S 



114 THE HISTOKY OF KING SOLOMON. 

trary, probably applauded Ms course, and followed 
his example. But God seeth not as man seeth, and 
he cannot look upon sin with any degree of allow- 
ance ; Solomon^s course was open before him, and 
his anger was kindled. 



SOLOMON'S TKOUBLES. 115 



CHAPTEE X. 

Solomon's Troubles — His Enemies, Hadad and 
Rezon — Ahijah the Prophet, and Jerobo- 
am — Solomon's Death. 

It is a dreadful thing to have the great God 
angry with us, yet the Bible says "he is angry 
with the wicked every day f and as we are all sin- 
ners and constantly doing the things we should not, 
we have great reason ^to fear that his anger is often 
kindled against us. Children must not get the 
impression that God's anger is like that which they 
manifest towards each other. Theirs is sinful, and 
passionate, and unreasonable ; while God's is holy, 
and just, and always brings deserved punishment 
upon those who excite it. 

Solomon had been educated by a good and pious 



116 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

father, and understood what God required of him ; 
yet, after he became a man he disregarded what he 
knew to be right, and sinned greatly. For a long 
time God bore with him, and waited for his re- 
pentance, yet Solomon for a time grew worse and 
worse. 

Every thing with Solomon seemed to be as pros- 
perous as usual, when a message from God startled 
and alarmed him. His conscience must have been 
quickly aroused, as the prophet Ahijah came to 
him, and said, ''Thus saith the Lord: forasmuch 
as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my 
covenant and my statutes which I have commanded 
thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, 
and will give it to thy servant.'^ 

Perhaps he was humbled before the Lord in 
view of the great calamity which his sin was about . 
to bring upon him ; for the Lord immediately told 
him, that for Jerusalem's sake and for David's sake, 
he would not do it till Eehoboam should come upon 



SOLOMON'S TEOUBLES. 117 

the throne. Solomon saw that God^s forbearance 
was not for any thing which he had done, and that 
he was living wholly upon mercies bestowed for 
the sake of David his father; and if these views 
had the right effect upon him, he was humbled be- 
fore Grod, even as we poor sinners should be, who 
are spared only for the sake of Christ. 

About the time that Solomon received this mes- 
sage from the Lord, Hadad, a son of the conquered 
king of Edom, began, by various means, greatly to 
annoy and harass his southern borders. 

While matters were in this condition at the 
south, warlike movements began to exhibit them- 
selves at the north, by Eezon, who had escaped 
from Zobah many years before, when David con- 
quered Hadadezer, its king, and was now, with his 
followers, located at Damascus. It is probable that 
he did not readily get possession of that city, for 
David put garrisons there during his life. At 
length, however, he seized it ; and holding the Isra- 



118 THE HISTOEY OE KING SOLOMON. 

elites in great abliorrence, he did all lie could to 
molest and annoy them. 

With the anger of the Lord resting upon him, 
and an enemy upon his right hand and upon his 
left, Solomon might have felt that it was better 
''to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to 
divide the spoil with the proud, ^' as he had said in 
his proverbs. 

With his many fenced cities, and chariots and 
horsemen, it would seem hardly possible that Ha- 
dad or Rezon should make much advance into the 
country without being routed ; yet, as Solomon had 
declared, "there is no wisdom, nor understanding, 
nor counsel against the Lord,^^ who accomplishes 
his designs, whether by few or by many. Solomon 
could do nothing to quiet or conquer the united 
forces of his enemies, and during the rest of his life, 
which was only four or five years, he was continu- 
ally molested by their incursions. 

About the same time, another foe was raised up 



SOLOMaN'S TBQUBLES. 119 

in Jeroboam, whom Solomon had befriended and 
appointed to a lucrative oflSce. He was the son of 
a widow who resided in the land of Ephraim ; and 
lil^e most boys who are without a father, he was 
obliged to earn his own support by labor. The 
first we hear of him he is in Jerusalem assisting in 
the work of building Millo. Solomon, who was ever 
on the lookout for men of the right stamp for his 
service, saw the industry of the young man Jero- 
boam, and learning that he was not only faithful in 
the duties assigned him, but a man of great valor, 
promoted him to be overseer of the labors of the 
tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim, or as others sup- 
pose, over the tribute collected from these two 
tribes. 

But Jeroboam could not bear prosperity ; and 
being bold, aspiring, and unprincipled, he soon be- 
gan to form plans of a seditious character against 
the king. This was probably done by encouraging 
the murmurs and discontent of the people on ac- 



120 THE HISTOPvY OF KING SOLOMON. 

count of the burdens laid upon them ; designing, no 
doubt, an open revolt whenever he could do so 
safely. 

While these things were occurring, the word of 
the Lord came to Ahijah, a prophet far advanced 
in life, who lived up in Shiloh, a city in Bphraim, 
and ordered him to go to Jeroboam with a message. 
The good prophet immediately obeyed, and started 
for Jerusalem ; but before he reached it, he met 
Jeroboam in the fields dressed in a new coat, which 
Ahijah immediately seized and tore into twelve 
pieces. Jeroboam, understanding that the prophet 
was about to communicate some important message 
from Grod, quietly submitted to this harsh usage 
and awaited the result. 

Taking up ten pieces and handing them to Jer- 
oboam, he commanded him to take them, which he 
did; then the prophet said, "Thus saith the Lord, 
the Grod of Israel : Behold, I will rend the kingdom 
out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes 



JEEOBOAM. 



121 




to thee. But he shall have one tribe for my ser- 
vant David's sake. And it shall be, if thou wilt 
hearken unto all I command thee, and wilt walk in 
my ways, and do that is right in my sight, to keep 
my statutes and my commandments, as David my 
servant did, that I will be with thee, and build 
thee a sure house, as I built for David, and will 
give Israel to thee.'' 



122 THE HISTOKY OF KING SOLOMON. 

The reason which Ahijah gave for this division 
of the nation was, that the people had gone after 
those heathen gods which Solomon had set up, and 
had worshipped them. This they had done in part 
through the bad example of their sovereign; and 
although Solomon was the greater sinner, they were 
guilty for following in his footsteps, and probably 
going beyond him in sin. It is no excuse for us, 
when wicked, that others have tempted us, and 
done the same things, for every man shall stand or 
fall before his own master. God had promised 
many things to David, and he regarded his word, 
and determined that the king's descendants should 
still be illustrious, and preserve the true light in 
Jerusalem. 

Jeroboam had long desired the kingdom, and 
now that there was a certainty of his possessing it, 
he had as little care for his torn garment, as he had 
for the principles of right and wrong. David once 
had the promise of the kingdom, yet he would do 



JEEOBOAM. 123 

nothing which would injure Saul, although he was 
constantly seeking; David^s life. Jeroboam, on the 
contrary, began to be so open in his rebellion, that 
Solomon was alarmed, and gave orders to arrest 
and put him to death. Jeroboam soon heard that 
the order had gone out, and slyly left the country. 
It was afterwards learned that he was in Egypt, 
under the care of Shishak the king. If Pharaoh 
had still been alive, Solomon could have requested 
him to put Jeroboam to death ; but he was proba- 
bly in the grave, and Shishak had no more regard 
for the king of Israel than for any other man. 

Perhaps Jeroboam told Shishak that he had the 
promise of ruling over ten tribes, as soon as Solo- 
mon, who was now old and infirm, should die ; and 
that may have been a reason why the king treated 
him with so much attention and respect. They 
undoubtedly had long and interesting conversations 
together in regard to the temple, the amount of 
gold expended upon the interior and upon the fur- 



124 THE HISTORY OF KING SOLOMON. 

niture, and upon those five hundred gold shields, 
which were hanging in the house of Lebanon ; and 
it is not improbable that Shishak even then had a 
faint hope of making all this wealth his own, not 
many years thence. 

Jeroboam would not at that time wish to excite 
any such feelings in the Egyptian king, for he ex- 
pected, with his crown, to take a large share of the 
wealth of the country ; but in after years, when 
Rehoboam became his open enemy, Jeroboam may 
have intimated to Shishak that Rehoboam might be 
easily conquered, and his country pillaged ; for only 
five years after Solomon's death, Shishak came 
against Jerusalem with twelve hundred chariots, 
sixty thousand horsemen, and a numberless amount 
of footmen, and took the city. Every thing of value 
in the temple and palace, even all the gold dishes, 
candlesticks, and shields, he packed up and carried 
off to Egypt. 

It is supposed that the perplexities by which 



SOLOMON'S DEATH. VAd 

Solomon was surrounded in his last days, served to 
show him the folly of his former course, and to lead 
him to serve Grod again with his whole heart. This 
is probably true, for he evidently wrote the book 
of Ecclesiastes when taking a retrospective view of 
his life ; and with a heart fully impressed with the 
unsatisfying nature of every earthly thing he had 
gained to himself, he abruptly exclaims, "Vanity 
of vanities, all is vanity!'^ He had labored for 
worldly pleasure and happiness, and it had proved 
nothing but " vexation of spirit.'^ 

He was now sixty years old, with every indica- 
tion that the door of another world would soon 
open to receiva and shut him for ever from the 
scene of all his earthly labors ; and while he lingers 
upon the threshold, see him, with compassionate 
looks, beseechingly saying to you, "Eemember now 
thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil 
days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou 
shalt say, ' I have no pleasure in them.' '^ He had 



126 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

tried the experiment and found it hard to live in 
opposition to the direct commands of G-od ; so he 
gives you, my young friends, this timely warning, 
that you may escape the misery that he suffered. 

To Eehoboam and all other young men who are 
taking similar courses, he said, "Eejoice, young 
man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in 
the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thy 
heart and in the sight of thine eves ; but know thou, 
that for all these things Grod will bring thee into 
judgment.'^ And his advice was, that if they wished 
to put sorrow from their hearts, they must put evil 
from their lives. 

But hark ! a few more words come floating back 
to us from the portals of the grave, and we hear 
him saying, "Hear the conclusion of the whole mat- 
ter: Fear Grod and keep his commandments, for 
this is the whole duty of man ; for God shall bring 
every work into judgment with every secret thing, 
whether it be good or whether it be evil.^' 



SOLOMON'S DEATH. 127 

Forty years Solomon had been king, but neither 
his riches, wealth, nor wisdom could retain the 
spirit when the angel of death came ; and Solomon 
was obliged to yield to his power. No doubt eyevj 
body, except a party of restless spirits, who com- 
plained of a heavy yoke and hard service, was 
alarmed when the news spread that the king was 
near his death ; and every thing that friends or 
money could do was quickly tried. But it was of 
no use ; God was calling for his spirit, and he must 
go. His great and splendid palace was vanity to 
him now, and his numerous wives with their heathen 
gods could give him no comfort. His complicity 
with their idolatries, we doubt not, filled him with 
bitter regrets ; but he had confessed and forsaken 
his sins, and found mercy, and now in his last hours 
committed his soul to the God of David his father ; 
and for the sake of Christ the Saviour to come, he 
was heard and saved. 

Had we visited the palace a few days after- 



128 THE HISTOEY OF KING SOLOMON. 

wards, we should have seen this great and wise 
man lying dead, and dressed for the grave. His 
work was done, and his friends carried him to the 
resting-place of his fathers, and buried him for ever 
from sight. 

Never, never forsake the Grod who made you, 
but work in his cause as long as you live ; for 

*' oil, there's joy in rightly doing, 
Never found in vice or sin ; 
Then obey a risen Saviour, 
If a home in heaven you 'd win. 
Read the Bible ; it will point you 
To bright scenes of bliss on high, 
"Where there 's rest for all the weary, 
And our loved ones never die." 



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